Four Letter Words robot plays word association, swears quite a bit (video)
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 30th 2010 3:34PM
posted March 30th 2010 3:34PM
If you know us, you know how much we love our swear words -- the basis of which, of course, is the old fashioned "four letter word." Artist Rob Seward must feel the same way -- he's actually gone so far as to build a robot that can assemble letters out of fluorescent lights, displaying English language words up to four characters long. Drawing on a word association database developed at the University of South Florida, an algorithm is used to display a never-ending series of words for bemused viewers. Not all the words are "blue," mind you, but the thing does trend that way, as determined "by a variety of language and perception studies, especially Elliot McGinnies's 1949 study 'Emotionality and Perceptual Defense'" (you know the one). Check the thing out in action after the break, and then be sure to hit up the source link for info on this and the artist's other work.
C-O-O-L
LAME
Just kidding
PIMP
@cjwild
This needs to become a font
@cjwild
WAAY
TOOO
MUCH
FREE
TIME
@Blackstar ...said the Engadget commenter.
@someguy7234 best font ever
interesting, although when watching it I somehow had the music of "A Clockwork Orange" in my mind, I don't know why.
They enslave us and mock us at the same time.
Neet.
L M A O
S-W-E-E-T....................... Oh wait
@Zonx S - W - E - T
o_O
just because this robot can't spell O V E R L O R D, doesn't mean it won't happen.
@refink IMSO RRYR EFIN KIMA FRAI DICA NTDO THAT
I'M
SORR
Y
DAVE
I
CANT
DO
THAT
CRAP
I
JUST
FIGU
RED
OUT
WHAT
DOM
THOM
SAID
AND
NOW
I
FEEL
LIKE
AN
IDIO
T
NEED
TO
PRAC
TICE
TUBA
I might get downranked for this, but
I P A D
@godsAngryTesticles Closely associated 4-letter words:
CRAP
FAIL
HARD
APPL
FALL
APPS
SUCK
OVER
HYPE
WONT
SELL
Of course, the database will be revised several months after release...
@ Testiclese . . . Worst. Avatar. Ever.
That robot is a hunt.
Be scared when the words trend towards K I L L !
F.E.A.R
Who knew how many four letter words there actually were O.o
418927315 to be exact.
@warningabc only if you consider AAAA a proper word ...
This is the kind of art that I love to see, and would love to see more of; dynamic displays utilizing technology in a unique way.
@ddddd LEDs would not have been nearly as cool, nor as artistic
I dig.
This reminds me of the display in Wargames that displayed the launch sequence code.
Let's try and keep words like "KILL" out of robots' vocabulary; it's in everyone's best interest.
After the 'KILL', I expected 'ALL', and, well... you know the rest.
Thats naughty
And his name is "Rob C-word." Classic!
YALL
COME
BACK
NOW
YOU
HEAR
Wuttup D A Therrien?
http://beautifullight.org/blog/2009/09/03/four-letter-word-machine-prepares-for-travel-to-canada
@owcz Damn, beat me to it. I saw D.A. Therrien's work in Toronto.
The scale, (and booming voice!), of Therrien's installation was really impressive but I really like Seward's mechanical movements.
Reminded me of The Fray's album art